After spending six years in rural Éragny, Pissarro returned to Paris, where he painted several series of the grands boulevards. Surveying the view from his lodgings at the Grand Hôtel de Russie in early 1897, Pissarro marveled that he could "see down the whole length of the boulevards" with "almost a bird's-eye view of carriages, omnibuses, people, between big trees, big houses that have to be set straight." From February through April, he recorded—in two scenes of the boulevard des Italiens to the right, and fourteen of the boulevard Montmartre to the left—the spectacle of urban life as it unfolded below his window.

[Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1897–1944; bought from the artist on May 11, 1897 for Fr 2,000; stock no. 4237; consigned to Durand-Ruel, New York in 1933, consignment no. 8928; sold on April 28, 1944 for $14,000 to Carstairs]; [Carroll Carstairs, New York, from 1944]; Stanley Newbold Barbee, Beverly Hills (until 1951; sold in December to Knoedler); [Knoedler, New York, 1951–52; ?stock no. A 4742; sold on January 15, 1952 for $25,000 to Vietor]; Mr. and Mrs. Ernest G. Vietor, New York and Greenwich, Conn. (1952–his d. 1959); Katrin S. (Mrs. Ernest G.) Vietor, New York and Greenwich, Conn. (1959–60; life interest, 1960–65)

Camille Pissarro. Letter to Lucien Pissarro. February 8, 1897 [published and translated in John Rewald, ed., "Camille Pissarro: Letters to His Son Lucien," London, 1980, p. 307], writes that he will be beginning a series of paintings of the boulevards and has rented a large room at the Grand Hôtel de Russie, 1 rue Douot, from which he "can see the whole sweep of boulevards almost as far as the Porte Saint-Denis, anyway as far as the boulevard Bonne Nouvelle".

Camille Pissarro. Letter to Lucien Pissarro. April 29, 1897 [published and translated in John Rewald, ed., "Camille Pissarro: Letters to His Son Lucien," London, 1980, p. 313], remarks that the series of paintings of boulevards, including this one, are on exhibit at Durand-Ruel.

James S. Plaut. The Sources of Modern Painting. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1939, p. 78, ill., suggests that Pissarro derives some inspiration for his Parisian views of boulevards and squares from Hiroshige street scenes, which were very popular during this time.

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, pp. 20–21, ill., remark that this is one of twelve scenes of the Boulevard Montmartre painted from his window at the Grand Hôtel de Russie (PV nos. 986–95, 997–98).

Christopher Lloyd. Camille Pissarro. New York, 1981, pp. 122–23, 127, 146, ill., comments that the most important aspect of the composition is that the "viewer is forced to 'read' the picture from the lower edge upwards"; notes that Pissarro increases the effect of "telescoping" by exaggerating the size of the lampposts and trees on the Boulevard Montmartre.

Christopher Lloyd inRetrospective Camille Pissarro. Exh. cat., Isetan Museum of Art. [Tokyo], 1984, p. 138, under no. 56, identifies it as one in a series of thirteen paintings made in the early months of 1897, which show the Boulevard Montmartre as seen from a room in the Grand Hôtel de Russie (PV 986–98).

Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 98–99, ill. (color), notes that stylistically this painting recalls the classic phase of Impressionism in the 1870s.

Early in 1897, Pissarro wrote to his son, Lucien, that he had rented a room at the Grand Hôtel de Russie, "from which I can see the whole sweep of boulevards almost as far as the Porte Saint-Denis, anyway as far as the boulevard Bonne Nouvelle". From there he painted a series of views of the boulevard Montmartre in different weather conditions and at varying times of the day (private collection, Switzerland, Pissarro and Venturi no. 986; this work, PV987; private collection, PV988–91; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, PV992; National Gallery, London, PV993; Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, Los Angeles, PV995; Kunstmuseum, Winterthur, PV997; Stiftung "Langmatt" Sidney and Jenny Brown, Baden, PV998). Brettell and Pissarro [see Ref. 1992] also include "Boulevard Montmartre: Spring Rain" (private collection) in this series, but it was not mentioned in the catalogue raisonné.